More treatment beds should go to women, a visiting expert says

"It's always good to offer alternatives to incarceration, which is the worst thing you can do for a drug problem," says Corinne Carey, deputy director of Break the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs.

But two things are wrong with drug courts, she said in an interview. They are less likely to be effective if a person does not want treatment or is forced into a program that does not work for them, she said.

Also, "The more we rely on drug courts, as opposed to diversion, we take up all the treatment beds with court-mandated patients, and when a woman wants to get into a program voluntarily in many places in the country, there is a long waiting list."

Those going through court or the welfare system have priority for treatment, so the word gets out, "If you want treatment, you'd better get arrested," she said.

Carey will be the guest speaker on "Reaching the New Untouchables: Women Who Use Drugs" at the Drug Policy Forum from 5:30 to 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.

Dr. Tricia Wright, University of Hawaii assistant professor of obstetrics-gynecology, will be presented with the forum's Ho'omaluhia Award for leading efforts to establish Hawaii's first perinatal clinic for women with substance abuse problems.

Carey serves on the board of directors of National Advocates for Pregnant Women. She began working in the field of harm reduction and drug policy reform as a volunteer with Prevention Point, Philadelphia's underground needle exchange, in 1992.

After graduating from law school in 1998, she founded the Harm Reduction Law Project in New York City, representing drug users from the region's harm reduction programs in cases involving denial of housing and public benefits, discrimination, child custody, eviction and police harassment.

She obtained a federal court ruling ordering the New York Police Department to stop arresting syringe exchange participants and charging them with drug possession based on residue in used syringes.

Carey, making her first trip to Hawaii, has been working for 12 years with pregnant women and mothers who use drugs.

"Until we have a system of treatment on demand, when women reach a window and need help to stop using, treatment has to be available to them," she said.

"There is no sense forcing them into treatment without a voluntary system available. The same with HIV testing. Why make it mandatory when we haven't opened the doors for women to get tested?"

Carey said she used to do client services for women who use drugs, helping them develop plans to retain or get custody of their kids.

She said children are harmed when they are taken from a biological parent. If there is danger in the home, services can be provided that allow children to remain there while their mother receives treatment, she said.

Leaving children in the home provides an incentive for the mother to continue treatment, and relieves the burden on the welfare system, she said. "There are not enough safe, loving homes for children to be taken away."

Treatment is a cost-effective way to deal with substance abuse problems, and it is just as critical for community public safety and health as fire and police services, Carey emphasized.